Social work is a profession of hope: Commentary by Carrie Jefferson Smith (Syracuse University)

Social workers ... are determined to be catalysts for positive and lasting change as they attend to those carrying the burden of today’s injustices.

By Carrie Jefferson Smith | Syracuse University

Carrie Jefferson Smith, director of the School of Social Work in Syracuse UniversityÃ¢ÂÂs Falk College. Syracuse University

There are more than 650,000 professionally trained social workers in the United States today. They are highly skilled in responding to human needs and deeply committed to those they serve. Social workers are the critical advocates when individuals and families are confronted with the unexpected or unimaginable, such as medical crises, behavioral challenges, trauma, violence, homelessness, grief and loss. Social workers provide essential lifelines in our community. Because they experience society’s most pressing issues up close, social workers are well-informed and ideally suited to shape policy and oversee its implementation on the local, state and national levels.

For more than 50 years, the field’s professional organization, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), has designated March as National Professional Social Work Month. Each year, a month-long theme supports its efforts to recognize one of the largest professions in the country. The 2013 theme, “Weaving Threads of Resilience and Advocacy: The Power of Social Work,” fittingly sends the message that social work is the profession of hope, fueled by resilience and advocacy.

Social workers serve in many capacities across the life continuum, helping individuals and families from infancy through the senior years. Thousands of professional social workers have been trained in Central New York and many have chosen to remain here. Nationally accredited programs are rigorous, requiring undergraduates to complete a minimum of 450 field placement hours in addition to their coursework. This figure doubles at the graduate level. However, many social work education programs, such as Syracuse University’s, mandate its students to exceed the minimum requirement. Often times, these real-world experiences result in career-defining moments for students who find their calling in a particular type of agency or working with a specific population.

The Office of Field Instruction in SU’s School of Social Work has long-standing relationships with more than one hundred human service agencies, offering opportunities for students to train in human service and government organizations, school systems, correctional facilities, mental health clinics and hospitals, just to name a few. In many instances, students are hired upon graduation in the same agencies where they’ve held field placement positions.

Job opportunities for social workers are expected to increase much faster than average for other occupations, with anticipated growth areas encompassing mental health, substance use disorders, child welfare, health care and gerontology.

Because the need for services specific to veterans and their families has escalated, the demand for professionals trained in military social work is significant. According to the Council on Social Work Education, clinical social workers were trained to provide services specific to soldiers returning from World War I as early as 1918. Today, there’s a growing awareness that soldiers returning from the Middle East have been affected profoundly by their experiences — psychologically, physically and spiritually — and there’s a great need and desire to care for the people who have sacrificed so much. In the last three years alone, the number of social workers in VA medical centers nationwide has increased by approximately 30 percent, a number that is expected to continue growing.

Social workers have a strong internal push to dedicate their lives to serving others. They are determined to be catalysts for positive and lasting change as they attend to those carrying the burden of today’s societal injustices. March offers a valuable opportunity to learn more about how social workers are making a difference by the bedsides of our loved ones, in our schools and on our streets, sometimes against all odds.

It is also a time for thoughtful reflection by government leaders, policymakers and concerned citizens of all ages to identify tangible ways, from advocacy and legislation to volunteer service, to promote social justice. At the very core of the value set for social workers is respect for the dignity of each person they serve, which is honed by their professional training that actualizes the resilience and advocacy inherent in the work they do. To the hundreds of social workers who are at work when and where we need them most, thank you for the significant role you play in building a successful, healthy community.

Carrie Jefferson Smith, MSW, DSW, is the director of the School of Social Work in Syracuse University’s Falk College as well as an associate professor whose career also included service as a social work practitioner and consultant. She currently leads a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration to increase social workers' capacity to address mental and behavioral health needs of veterans, military personnel and their families, and residents of medically underserved rural communities.